Your Baby at Weeks 1 and 2

This week the groundwork is laid for the big O — ovulation — the all important first step toward the making of the baby of your dreams. And like those dreams, the baby action is all in your head right now — where the hypothalamus, the control center in your brain, works with its partner in reproduction, the pituitary gland, to start releasing hormones.

These hormones — called FSH and LH — prompt the ovaries to get cracking on some eggs, ripening one to maturity within its follicle. All this egg action causes the ovaries to crank up production of two other powerful hormones, estrogen and progesterone. These hormones, the dynamic duo of the reproductive system, get the reproductive party in your uterus started, telling the uterus to thicken its lining, forming a blood-pumped cushion in anticipation of hosting a fertilized egg.

Midway through your menstrual cycle — around day 14 if you have an average 28-day cycle — the dominant follicle in the ovary swells and then ruptures, releasing the mature egg of the month. That egg, the one with your baby’s name on it, bursts through the walls of the ovary and is immediately swept up into the fringed opening of the fallopian tube, where it will take a six day odyssey down to the uterus. Ovulation has just occurred.

Meanwhile, swimming along as fast as their little tails can flutter, millions of sperm are making a beeline for that egg, up through the cervix, into the uterus, and then on to the fallopian tube. One especially persistent suitor survives the grueling journey to intercept the egg and burrow into its outer layers. The victorious sperm plunges into the egg’s nucleus, releases its own genetic contribution, and bingo! the egg is officially fertilized. That twinkle in your eyes is about to become…a baby.

At a Glance

Baby Brain Boost

Protect unborn brains! Women who get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily this early on reduce baby’s risk of neural tube defects by up to 70%.

Chance of Twins?

Twin alert! If you’re over 35 you produce lots of follicle-stimulating hormones, upping the chance two or more eggs will be let go during ovulation.

You're Pregnant! Or Are You?

Surprise: You’re not actually pregnant your first week of pregnancy! Your due date is calculated from the first day of your last period.

Gearing Up to Ovulate

No, there’s no baby or even an embryo in sight (at least not yet) — just an anxious egg and a whole bunch of eager sperm at their respective starting gates. But in weeks one and two of pregnancy — the week of and immediately following your last menstrual period — your body is working hard to gear up for the event that paves the way for the baby: the big O, or ovulation.

Right now, your uterus has begun preparing for the arrival of a fertilized egg, though you won't know for sure if that egg has successfully matched up with sperm until next month.

How can you call this your first week of pregnancy if you're not even pregnant? It’s extremely hard for your practitioner to pinpoint the precise moment pregnancy begins (when sperm meets egg). While there’s no mistaking the start of your period, the exact day of ovulation can be hard to nail down. What’s more, sperm from your partner can hang out in your body for several days before your egg comes out to greet it. Likewise, your egg can be kept waiting for up to 24 hours for late sperm to make their appearance.

So in order to give all pregnancies some standard timing, most practitioners use the first day of your last menstrual period as the starting line of your 40-week pregnancy. Still confused? Think of it as a head start — you're clocking in roughly two weeks of pregnancy before you even conceive!

Your Body at Weeks 1 and 2

Your Last Menstrual Period

You've just gotten your last period, at least for a while: The lining of your uterus is shedding, taking with it last month's unfertilized egg. But that's not all that's happening. A new cycle is beginning, one that is the starting point for your pregnancy.

Your menstrual cycle is orchestrated by a symphony of hormones working in concert with one another. The first to kick in is FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) which — you guessed it — stimulates the follicles to mature, some faster than others. Each follicle contains an egg, and each month only one follicle becomes the dominant one, destined for ovulation.

As the follicles mature, they produce another hormone, estrogen, which does two things. First, it encourages the lining of the uterus to begin thickening again. Second, once a high enough level of estrogen is reached, it will trigger yet another hormone called LH (luteinizing hormone) to be produced. That surge of LH causes the egg from the most mature follicle to burst through the ovarian wall (a process you probably know best as ovulation, which generally occurs about 24 to 36 hours after the LH surge) to meet Mr. Right — the lucky sperm that will turn that eager egg into a baby-in-the-making and make your body's prep work worth all the effort.

Believe it or not, the countdown to delivery day begins now, during the period before fertilization — even though your egg and his sperm haven't even been in the same room (or womb!). And if you don't get pregnant this time around, don't stress: Women have about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant with each cycle.

In the meantime, while your uterus is preparing for its new tenant, be a good landlord. Consider these two weeks of waiting as a final walk-through before baby takes over the keys. You may not technically be pregnant yet, but it isn't too early to act like you are. So if you haven't taken your prenatal vitamin, start now. It's also a good time to give up alcohol and smoking and embark on a healthy prenatal diet and exercise routine.

Turn Down the Heat to Boost Fertility

Trying to make a baby? Turn off that electric blanket and keep each other warm the good, old-fashioned way. Studies show that prolonged, excessive heat — like that produced by electric blankets, heating pads and even laptops — can adversely affect those temperamental testes by slowing down sperm production (and you want sperm aplenty right now!). Plus, all that snuggling you'll have to do to stay warm will generate the kind of heat that can actually make babies.

More ways to increase your odds of scoring a fertilized egg: Try refraining from oral sex before the main event, since saliva can have a negative impact on sperm activity and motility … and you want them alive and kicking. Ditto for most lubricants, so lay off the Astroglide while you're trying to conceive.

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 1 and 2

Your basal body temperature, or BBT, dips to its lowest point when you ovulate, then immediately shoots up about a half a degree as soon as ovulation occurs. So buy a special thermometer and start tracking! Over the course of a few months, you'll be able to notice a pattern to better predict when that magic moment happens to you each month (and when to jump into bed!). Read More

If you’ve been monitoring your mucus during these TTC months, you already know that it changes consistency from week to week. Right now your mucus is probably thick, sticky and creamy, but as you head toward C-day (conception), the volume will increase and it’ll start to look cloudy. Read More

Tips for You This Week

Fill Up on Folic Acid

There's no doubt that your body works overtime when you're expecting and it can't make a baby all on its own. It requires plenty of nutrients to baby-build. Get your body ready for baby by taking 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. Loads of research has shown that folic acid, especially if it's started in the months preceding pregnancy, has important health benefits for expecting women and their babies, including reducing the risk of miscarriage, congenital heart defects, gestational diabetes and preterm labor.

Ask Your Doc About Meds

Whether you’re taking a prescription, OTC or herbal med, consult your doctor ASAP about which are safe and which could harm your baby-to-be’s health. Herbal preparations are not tested or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are not required to undergo clinical trials, which mean that their safety (or lack of) is unknown. Even herbs that you've heard of could be helpful during pregnancy may be dangerous at different points during the next nine months.

Kick Your Smoking Habit

It’s never too early (or late) to kick a tobacco habit. Smoking seriously dampers your fertility and can harm your unborn babe. Smoking around the time of conception increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy, and continued smoking can up the chances of a wide variety of pregnancy complications, including abnormal implantation or premature detachment of the placenta, premature rupture of the membranes and early delivery. Talk to your doc about safely stopping.

Have a Preconception Visit

Have you scheduled a preconception doc visit yet? No? Well, get to it! You'll learn about genetic, environmental and lifestyle hazards that may put your fertility and baby at risk. To prepare for your preconception checkup, gather information on the type of birth control you're on, your menstrual cycles, a list of medications you currently take, any chronic conditions you have and your family health history.

Pick Any Position

More than a third of women think specific sexual positions up their chances of conceiving, but this is a myth for the most part. Healthy sperm are excellent swimmers — and determined on their mission. Pretty much any position can get you pregnant, so you might as well pick one that gives you both the most pleasure. If you'd like to add a little extra gravity into the equation, give sperm a head start by elevating your hips slightly and asking your partner to be on top.

Stay Chill

Yoga? Meditation? Reading? Whatever it takes to chill out, do it. Women who have the highest levels of a stress-related enzyme in their saliva called alpha-amylase were 29 percent less likely to get pregnant than those with the lowest levels, according to a study.

Look for Signs of Ovulation

Be an ovulation detective: At peak fertility (11-21 days from the first day of your last period) your cervical mucous increases and becomes more thin, gooey and slippery. Other signs of ovulation to watch out for include slightly lower basal body temperature (that then rises again), light spotting, cramps in your lower abdomen and an increased sex drive.

Updated: May 13, 2019

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Health information on this site is based on peer-reviewed medical journals and highly respected health organizations and institutions including ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), as well as the What to Expect books by Heidi Murkoff.

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